I am almost done with my HS6 powder, CCI primers and Berry bullets. Was planning to go from 115gr. to 147gr on the bullets.
Was wondering if there were brands that others on his forum have found to be better than what I'm using?
The CCI primers have worked great and I've had no issue with the Berry's or the Hodgdon powder. Just seeing what others like/recommend as I'm at the end of my Supplies.
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That's a very open ended question. I don't load 9mm (assuming 9mm by the bullet weights mentioned), so I can't help you with that caliber specifically, but for everything else, I use a fairly wide variety of powders, bullets, primers, etc. In handguns, I mainly use hardcast bullets (half of them being cast by me). I use Hodgdon, Alliant, and IMR powders depending on what I want a particular load to do.
What are your goals? What factors are important (performance, cost, availability of components)? If you're happy with the status quo, why change?
Chris
I don't know if they are better, but Xtreme plated bullets are cheap and are frequently put on sale. Good enough for my IDPA.
I ran a comparison of American primers in 9mm. CCI, WW, and Federal were equivalent. Remington was the outlier, I will not buy more. A friend uses S&B with good shooting, except when he tried to substitute SR for SP. Strange, Fed SR are fine 9mm primers.
There are so many suitable powders out there. A friend was running short during the Obama Years, could not find his preferred brand. I looked in a couple of manuals and made a list of 26 powders with published data in 9mm. A nearby store had two of them. He picked one and has stayed with it ever since, rather than go back to what he used to use.
If Powder A will equal a factory load or make power factor, I see little point in trying Powder B for the same application. Maybe if I were a 50 yard slowfire expert looking for every last point, I would flip flop powders after I was sure my bullets were right.
Code Name: JET STREAM
Montana Gold are my best performance 9mm bullet, but I’ve had decent success with Berry’s double struck bullets, and they are substantially cheaper than MT Gold. I only use Federal or CCI primers. I’ve tried others but they are less reliable. I prefer to not stock a bunch of different powders so it’s 700x and 1680, which handles all of my reloading needs. I’m in the reloading game for the economics of it, and not to see if I can out think or out perform the 100 pound heads at the anmo companies.
If what you are using works, and you’re not into it for the “fun” or “hobby” of experimenting, there isn’t a lot of reason to change things up.
You can get much more of what you want with a kind word and a gun, than with a kind word alone.
True.Originally Posted by Sean M
I load partly for economics and partly because I'm a reloading nerd. When I load 9mm, .38, or .45 it's for economic reasons, so they're loaded with coated cast bullets from SNS or Bayou, and whatever primers are on sale/no hazmat, etc. I have used CCI, Federal, Remington, Winchester, Wolf, and Magtech and they all went bang. I do not change powders or bullet/bullet weight.
For rifle, rifle caliber pistols, and hunting handguns I play around with all kinds of powders and bullets because Imanerd/Merica/want/newerbiggerbetter.
"Gunfighting is a thinking man's game. So we might want to bring thinking back into it."-MDFA
Beware of my temper, and the dog that I've found...
Thanks for the responses- I know it's a pretty wide open question. Just trying to see what some other people use for reloading.
If there were some more liked brands than others.
The items I bought were on the shelf at Cabelas and that was my entire selection criteria when I bought them.
Edit- I reload because it's easier to convince my wife I save money and because I enjoy it.
Last edited by holmes168; 10-17-2017 at 12:01 PM.
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I switched from Berry's to SNS casting poly-coated bullets. I've probably loaded around 10,000 - 12,000 of the SNS 124 poly bullet.
I like Winchester primers best because they seem softer. I've used about a dozen different powders in the past due to mixed availability. I like unique and bullseye a lot.
Last edited by warpedcamshaft; 10-17-2017 at 12:21 PM.
For the last few years I have been loading Bayou 147 grain bullets over TiteGroup powder with Winchester primers. I used Montana Gold in the past with good results, but the Bayou is a good bit cheaper. If CCI primers work for you, no need to change if they are available to you. HS6 is a slower powder and there are faster powders that would probably give you what you want with less recoil.
I didn't realize that on the powder. How do you determine if it's a "slower" powder? I've seen a lot of people use TiteGroup.
This country needs an enema- Blues approved sig line
I use whatever primer I get the best deal on. Currently, Cabelas has S&B primers cheapest - I wait until I get some kind of $20 off coupon from Cabalas then get 4 or 5 thousand small pistol primers. I use Winchester Super Field in 9mm and Clays in 45. When powder was hard to get - I bought whatever I could find that would work. I use Bayou coated bullets - normally 124 in 9mm, 140 in 40/10, and 185 SWC in 45. I seldom load 40 and 45. I constantly load 9mm.
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